Ice maker



H. P. HARLE Nov. 17, 1959 ICE MAKER Filed July 25, 1958 FIGS F'IG.Z

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INVENTOR. P. HARLE HAROLD BY /l" HIS ATTORNEY United States Patent ICE MAKER Harold P. Harle, Louisville, Ky., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application July 25, 1958, Serial No. 750,921

4 Claims. (Cl. 62353) inverted mold.

Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved means for separating and discharging an ice piece from an ice mold having flexible side Walls.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds and the features of novelty which characterize the invention will be pointed out with particularly in the claims annexed to and forming part of this specification.

In carrying out the objects of the present invention, there is provided an automatic ice maker including at least one support member and an ice mold having flexible side walls and a bottom wall supported on the support member. The ice mold is adapted to receive a charge of water in a normal position and to be inverted, i.e., turned inside out, after formation of an ice piece to strip or peel "the mold walls from the piece to discharge or eject the 1 ice piece therefrom. Preferably, to facilitate the peeling action, the ice mold is of an inverted frustum shape and the bottom Wall thereof is supported on a supporting member which is also frustum shaped and is designed to be encompassed by the side walls of the ice mold when the mold is inverted by a downwardly peeling action away from the ice piece. Means are also provided for contacting the ice piece to break the bond between the exposed ice piece and the bottom of the ice mold and to remove the ice piece from that wall following the peeling oporation.

For a better understanding of the invention reference may be had to the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of a preferred embodiment of the ice maker of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view along line 22 of Fig. 1 illustrating the position of the ice mold during the freezing portion of the cycle;

Figs. 3 and 4 are views similar to Fig. 2 but show the steps by which the ice piece is released from the mold following the freezing thereof; and

Fig. 5 shows one type of control circuit suitable for controlling the operation of the ice makerof the present invention.

With reference to Fig. 1 of the drawing, the ice maker of the present invention is shown as being installed within a refrigerated compartment 1 of a domestic refrigerator or freezer. The ice maker comprises at least one and preferably a plurality of ice molds 2 each of which is supported on a support member or pedestal 3, refrigeration of these supporting members in the illustrated embodiment of the invention being obtained by means of an 2 evaporator 4 having U-shaped sections 5 which extend upwardly into the hollow interior of the supports 3 for maintaining the supports 3 at below freezing temperatures. It will be obvious, of course, that other means, such as air freezing, can be employed to cool the molds 2 and their contents.

Each of the supports 3 is frustum shaped and its cooperating ice mold 2 is supported on the upper flat surface 6 thereof. Each of the ice molds 2 is of aninverted frustum shape and includes a bottom wall 7 substantially coextensive with and in heat exchange relationship with the top wall 6 of the support 3 and flexible side walls 8 which are adapted to engage or encompass the upper side wall portions of the supporting member 3 when the ice mold is inverted, that is turned inside out, by a downward movement of the side walls 8. For the purpose of turning the ice mold 2 inside out to break the bond between the side walls and an ice piece 10 which has been formed within the mold 8 there is provided a crank shaft 12 pivotally supported at its opposite ends by brackets 14 .and 15 andhaving a crank portion 17 disposed above the ice mold 8. A rigid frame member 19 secured to the upper portions of the ice molds 8 as for example to the flanges 20, is connected by a plurality of links or conare progressively peeled downwardly away from the ice 'pieces 10 to leave each ice piece supported only by the bottom wall 7 of the mold in which it was formed. A drive motor 23 connected to one end of the crank shaft 12 and supported on the bracket 15 is employed to impart rotational movement to the crank shaft 12-and tabs 22 passing through suitable slots 24 in the brackets 14 and 15 guide the frame in its vertical movement.

The actual ice ejecting operation obtained by rotation of the crank shaft '12 is best understood from a consideration of Figs. 24 of the drawing. Fig. 2 illustrates the normal or ice forming position of the ice maker in which each of the ice molds 2 is in its normal position in which a charge of Water contained therein is frozen into ice. When freezing is completed, energization of the motor 23 for turning the crank 17 through one complete revolution first causes the crank 17 through the links 21 to move the frame member 19 downwardly thereby causing the side walls 8 of the ice mold to peel downwardly from the ice piece 10 as shown in Fig. 3. The peeling operation is completed when the crank 17 reaches its lowermost position as shown in Fig. 4 and the pletely inverted position with the walls 8 thereof surrounding the support 3. At about this point or specifically just prior to the complete peeling operation, a portion of the crank 17 directly above each mold 2 comes in contact with an exposed side of the ice piece 10 which is now resting only on the bottom wall 7 of the inverted ice mold whereby further rotation of the crank 17 breaks the bond between the bottom of the ice mold and the ice piece and knocks the ice piece off of the support 3 and into a receptacle 26 provided within the freezing compartment 1 adjacent the support 3. Continued rotation of the crank 17 to its uppermost or starting position causes each of the molds 2 to be reinverted to their normal position for initiation of another ice making cycle, and to accomplish this, the bottom 7 of the molds 2 are adhesively or otherwise secured to the surfaces 6.

In order to introduce a measured quantity of water to the ice molds 2, there is provided a filler trough 28 supported, for example, by brackets 29 on the top wall 30 of the compartment 1. As the crank 17 returns to its uppermost or normal position wherein the molds 2 are returned to their ice making shape a measured amount ice mold 2 is in a com- :3 of water is introduced into the trough 28 through a supply line 34 provided with a normally closed solenoid valve 35. From the trough, from which water is discharged through the calibrated outlets 32, and into the molds, there being one outlet 32 for each mold.

Any suitable electrical control circuit can be employed for controlling the operation of the ice maker and for initiating discharge of the ice pieces from molds 2. A suitable control circuit is illustrated in Fig. as including a timer 40 which drives cam operated switches 41 and 42; the timer motor 40 being energized and the drive motor 43 and the solenoid valve 35 being conditioned for energization by closing of a switch 44 in one of the supply lines 45. The switch 44 is designed to be closed when the supply of ice in the receptacle 26 is depleted and opened when the receptacle is full. Upon closing the switch 44, the timer motor 40 is energized while the drive motor 23 and the solenoid valve 35 are conditioned for ener gization upon the closing of their respective normally open, cam operated switch mechanisms ll and 42. The cam operated switch ill is designed to energize the drive motor 23 only after the elapse of time sufficient to assure the freezing of the contents of the molds 2 and to open the drive motor circuit after one complete revolution of the crank 17. Switch 42 is adapted to energize and open the solenoid valve 35 at about the time the crank arm 17 returns to its normal or uppermost position and to hold the valve open for a period sufiicient to introduce into the trough 28 the amount of water required to fill all of the molds 2.

While there has been shown and described a specific embodiment of the present invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the invention and it is intended by the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. An automatic ice maker comprising a refrigerated member, an ice mold having flexible side walls and a bottom wall supported in heat exchange relationship on said refrigerated member, and means for releasing an ice piece from said mold comprising a crank disposed above said mold and pivoted means connecting said crank to an upper portion of said mold whereby turning of said crank peels said flexible side walls downwardly from said ice piece, said crank being arranged to thereafter contact said piece and break the bond between said ice piece and said bottom wall.

2. An automatic ice maker comprising at least one frustum-shaped refrigerated support, a frusturn-shaped ice mold having flexible side walls and a bottom wall supported on the top surface of said support, and means for inverting said ice mold by peeling said side walls downwardly about said support to expose an ice piece formed in said mold, said inverting means including a crank operatively connected to said ice mold and adapted upon inversion of said mold to engage said ice piece and displace said ice piece from said bottom wall.

3. An automatic ice maker comprising at least one refrigerated support, an ice mold having flexible side walls and a bottom Wall supported on the top surface of said support, and means for inverting said ice mold by peeling said side walls downwardly about said support to expose an ice piece formed in said mold, said inverting means including a crank operatively connected to said ice mold and adapted upon rotation thereof during inversion of said mold to engage said ice piece and displace said ice piece from said bottom wall.

4. An automatic ice maker comprising at least one support, a frusturn-shaped ice mold having flexible side walls and a bottom wall coextensive with and supported on the top surface of said support, and means for inverting said ice mold by peeling said side Walls downwardly from an ice piece in said mold to expose said ice piece, said inverting means including a crank disposed above and operatively connected to said ice mold and adapted upon rotation to invert said mold and thereafter to engage said ice piece and displace said ice piece from said bottom wall.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,182,454 Sherman Dec. 5, 1939 2,259,066 Gaston Oct. 14, 1941 2,431,916 Caesar Dec. 2, 1947 2,770,102 Roedter Nov. 13, 1956 

